tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-216903872491326372018-02-14T14:55:02.622-08:00PDQ(Politics Damn Quick)Political commentary from a long time NY political activistJohn Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-57236109651338114592017-10-03T08:32:00.002-07:002017-10-03T08:32:08.428-07:00Regular order<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">As Sen. John McCain says, “ We need to get back to regular order.”</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Indeed there is much wisdom in that admonition.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The way government is supposed to work is when we identify a problem, we analyze the cause. And then try to fashion a reasonable remedy to address that problem. Unless , of course, that problem is massive carnage caused by our loose regulation of high powered guns and ammunition. In that case, we are told not to “politicize” the issue, and to simply pray instead.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; I don’t disagree that prayer is powerful, and needed, but so is sensible gun registration and regulation. Our Legislative bodies are told by the NRA that any regulation is unacceptable, so Congress refuses to go there. That is far from “regular order”, and it is lamentable, because it makes us incapable of addressing a major issue, to wit: the proliferation of massive gun violence which is unique to our country. No other country is experiencing such gun related carnage. Clearly, they have problems created by terrorists with explosive devices and weaponized vehicles, but not from the guns which bedevil us.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;Is it not time to try to draw new lines in the sand when a crazed wealthy gunman can shoot nearly 500 people like fish in a barrel out of a hotel window with legally obtained weaponry by the dozens, that may face been illegally modified? Their only sin was enjoying a country music concert, which , in America, we should be free to do without risking our lives.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Are we to simply observe a moment of silence, pray, and &nbsp;and go about our lives as powerless eunuchs who cannot use “regular order” and common sense to do something about it? I think not. We have to take on the gun lobby to take back our country and restore sanity and “ regular order”. If we fail to do so, we have only ourselves to blame.&nbsp;</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-29153003833083866982017-07-04T03:33:00.001-07:002017-07-04T03:33:07.471-07:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I am every bit as much a yankee doodle dandyish guy as anyone, and I always love to wave the flag on the Fourth of July , and any other patriotic occasion. I get a lump in my throat when I hear the star spangled banner being sung at the beginning of sports events , and my eyes mist up when&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Kate Smith</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp;sings God bless America during the 7th inning stretch.&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; This year, however, I have been getting a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read tweets from the current occupant of the Oval Office which are inconsistent with our democratic values, and contemptuous of a free press and the First Amendment. His conduct is not just unseemly, it is downright un-American. I will still wave the flag on the Fourth, but my unabashed enthusiasm for the expression of my patriotism is tempered somewhat by the reality of the intemperate conduct of our current President.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">He does not make us proud to be an American . He makes us embarrassed by the reality of his juvenile tit for tat reaction, which is not only Un-Presidential, but Un-Christian as well. There is no &nbsp;turning of the other cheek here.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">it's all about striking back at your enemies.</span></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I believe it was Richard Nixon who , at the end of his Presidency, famously said,&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"&nbsp;</span><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.".</i></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So hate not America. Love what is best about our country. And navigate around our current President. The best thing that could happen is that we simply pay him no heed.&nbsp;</i></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><i style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">&nbsp; &nbsp; May God continue to bless America in spite of it all.&nbsp;</i></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-7804304892763250372017-06-14T05:01:00.001-07:002017-06-14T05:01:47.334-07:0039 states had their electoral databases hacked by Russian spies. That is a fact. The Attorney General has not been briefed on this? The President met 9 times with the head of the FBI, and never asked about the "Russian thing", and is photographed laughing and joking with Russians the day after he fires the FBI head, and only Russian photographers were let in to film that moment. Huh?<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I know. It strains credulity. But so does that Dear Leader cabinet meeting. And to think the President was thrilled by it and furious at those who mocked and criticized it. Unfortunately his world has become our world, and we are all upside down as a result. And the blind partisanship of the "see no evil Republicans" is Trumping our constitutional democracy. A sad state of affairs indeed.John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-77737817079586839452017-05-06T07:18:00.002-07:002017-05-06T07:18:21.803-07:00Chicken Little Republicans<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Chicken Little Republicans</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The sky is falling! The sky is falling! So says a chorus of Republican Congressmen, convincingly. The problem is that the evidence for that claim is wholly unconvincing, and simply does not support that conclusion. Unless there is further sabotage to the health care program now known as Obamacare, the system will survive. It would even thrive with a few fixes and tweaks. Instead, the Republicans have figuratively hired dozens of crop dusting planes to seed the skies to produce as much rain as they can in the hope that the resulting torrential downpour will wash away what's left of the program. Political prognosticators always need a reliable bogeyman to rail against so as to advance their agenda. So, " Obamacare" became the bogeyman.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The real agenda? Cutting Medicaid by $880 billion in order to fund tax cuts for the top one &nbsp;percent of our citizens. The stage has now been set for Republican tax reform plans. What? All of the rhetoric aside, the plan which takes away health care coverage for the poor, the elderly, and the disabled rewards the rich and punishes the poor. There is not enough lipstick in an Estée Lauder warehouse to cover up the fact that they are offering us an ugly pig. Repeal and replace has been a Republican hoax all along. They believe in repeal, but they have no sensible program to replace it.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The fact that the Republican House members were able to join ranks to finally pass something does not mean that that "something" is worth anything. The end zone victory celebration was a bit premature. They were cheering a half-time comeback, but the game is far from over, and one interception , spectacular as it may have been, does not a victory make.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The saddest part of this whole saga is the loss of integrity and credibility of moderate House members, many of whom reside in NY, and who have let their party loyalty trump their common sense. Seven of the nine New York Republican Congressmen voted for the bill. Dan Donovan of Staten Island and John Katko of Central New York were the only profiles in Republican courage. North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik offered a pitifully unconvincing rationale for her vote, and Congressman John Faso of the Hudson Valley reversed polarity on a direct promise to one of his constituents with a brain tumor after personally hugging her and telling her he would never vote to change the pre-existing condition exemption in the current law. They are two Congresspersons who should be given the bums rush for their timidity, insincerity and inability to stand up for their constituents against &nbsp;their own party's leadership demands.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Simply put, they caved. They put Party above people, and that is not acceptable, in fact, it is contemptible. There are no winners here to be cheered. The Congressional win is only temporary. There is a Senate to contend with, and if these congresspersons attempt to further excuse their votes by saying they were relying on the Senate to fix what they had ineffectively crafted and passed, that is even worse. What happened when Mr. Smith got to Washington? Jimmy Stewart died. So did his fighting Congressional spirit. It has been replaced by political operatives who do the bidding of those special interests that fund their campaigns, and the average citizen be damned. Sad, but true.&nbsp;</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-28767285655137855912017-05-05T12:41:00.004-07:002017-05-05T12:42:57.283-07:00Abe Lincoln and the Affordable Health care Act<span style="color: #454545; font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">"When I find myself in times of trouble , Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, Let it be, Let it be." Those are wise lyrics penned by Paul McCartney. It never hurts to pause and pray, and with the Republican Congress passing the repeal of the Affordable care act, it is time for contemplation and prayer. Pray for the Senate to see the light. Pray for the electorate to see through the pious platitudes of those representatives who assured their constituents they would not lose under this new Health care bill, knowing full well that that was not true, and pray for our President that he will be hoisted upon the petard of his own insincerity by the constituents who voted for him but could now be the biggest losers if the bill he supported becomes law.&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;Sometimes it takes radical action to awaken the public to what could really happen, and it is my sense that this "victory" for Ryan and Trump will be the rope from which the noose is fashioned , and from which they will all eventually be hung.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The irony here is that Trump's voters will finally come to realize that they have been had. They have been sold a bill of goods that will not materialize. Coal is not coming back. Building huge walls while letting our bridges crumble is not the answer, and squeezing those with meager resources to enhance the fortunes of those who already live in a world of plenty is doomed to fail, eventually. Whether this is the event that will turn the light bulbs on in those living in dimly lit quarters, only time will tell. But, the photographic evidence of a group of older white mostly millionaire men cheering their victory in the rose garden may finally galvanize voters as never before. It looked like a smug frat boy reunion, or a gala grand opening for a Trump golf course. In my view, the radical right wing's attempt to&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">repeal " Obamacare" will not succeed, in large part because what they are replacing it with is a much more inferior product. Ultimately, &nbsp;those who have shown their true colors will be shown the door., and given an unceremonious heave ho. "Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, hey hey hey...goodbye!" And don't let the door hit you in the derrière on the way out.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;And to my fellow Democrats, a word of advice: Keep your sunny side up. It may get a little worse before it gets better, but 2018 will soon be here. Stay alert. Remain vigilant. And don't let anyone forget what just happened. And remember those immortal words of the greatest Republican President ever: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. Abraham Lincoln</div><div><br /></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-54781539104883221662017-04-23T10:27:00.001-07:002017-04-23T10:27:10.317-07:00Re-building or Re-Making the Democratic Party<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Whither thou goest Democratic Party? These are trying times for those who embrace the jackass label. The challenge is to step into the best of the traditions of the party of Jefferson and Jackson, a/k/a the party of the people , without becoming a caricature in the process. That may require some adept maneuvering which the new party leadership has not yet demonstrated.&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;The road show involving new Chair Tom Perez and almost standard bearer Bernie Sanders did not entirely inspire recently. Sanders was cheered , and Perez was booed. It was a shaky lift off at best. Many of Sen. Sanders supporters, predominately young, obviously still " Feel the Bern", but it is a tough task for him to transform that passion into one that will build the Democratic Party. Part of the problem is that Bernie himself confesses to being an independent, not a Democrat. That limits his credibility as a preacher for the party. Why join and support a party that he won't join, although he supports Its goals. There is something inherently flawed about that message.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;And Tom Perez, for all of his Hispanic bona fides and Labor Cabinet Secretary credentials, has all of the charisma of a thin, raspy voiced, college economics professor . In short, he hasn't the looks and the charm of a Marco Rubio, or the passionate persuasiveness of a Ted Cruz type. I think the party needs a better spokesman, but even more importantly, it needs a. convincing message. Just railing against the idiocy of Donald Trump is not enough.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;In my opinion, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, would have been a better choice. He is young, sincere, charismatic, a good speaker, and he has a message, both personal and political. The Democratic National Committee chose not to embrace the new, but clung instead to the old, and its slip is showing as a result. And the decision to continue Nancy Pelosi in the House as Democratic leader may have been &nbsp;an appropriate recognition of her leadership skills, but it is still viewed by many as a throwback to the old guard, Hillary, etc.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;If the Democrats are serious about taking&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">back the House in 2018, they have to provide some new leadership and a new message. Criticizing the "do nothing Republican Congress" will help, but something positive is needed.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sending Vice-Chair Keith Ellison out on the hustings with Bernie Sandra was not much better than Perez, although at least he wasn't booed. We still need to do better. Enlisting grass roots elected officials like Mayors, &nbsp;who have connectivity with their constituents is a good idea. Developing a concise pithy message is even more important.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I always tried to explain the difference between the two parties this way to my college aged government students.:&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Republicans say, " I've got mine...go get your own", while Democrats say, "I've got mine, can I help you get yours?" Therein lies the difference in the approach of the two parties, in a nutshell. Back in the Clinton days, the message we were told to convey, as Surrogate Speaker's, was a three worded one: " Opportunity, Responsibility, Community." Ensure opportunity, promote responsibility and develop as a community. It worked out pretty well back then.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">&nbsp; &nbsp;But today, we Democrats need a new slogan. Something that gets right to the heart of the matter. So , the slogan could be " Republicans have got theirs...Democrats will help you get yours...and keep it. " I think that works. What do you think?&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-20938703509555582482017-03-08T07:27:00.000-08:002017-03-08T07:27:00.285-08:00Acute case of Trumpitis? <span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Donald Trump makes me sick. Literally. I finally figured that out , but I am still looking for the cure. So far, it is elusive. I have been hospitalized twice since the Trump inauguration, first, with a very bad case of bronchitis, and then a couple of weeks later with a bad reaction to blood thinning medication which I have been taking for a newly diagnosed A Fib condition. Until now, I have had no problems with my heart. In fact, &nbsp;I have been the picture of health. Granted, &nbsp;I just turned seventy, and maybe some chickens have come home to roost, but I largely blame Trump for my current problems.&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;I am having a vey difficult time reconciling my long term respect for our institutions of government, and the utter joke it is now becoming under Trump. I taught high school social studies for several years, and in later years, American government courses at the college level, and always tried to instill in my students a basic respect for our values and our institutional set of checks and balances. But the current state of affairs &nbsp;leaves me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and my search for a corrective bromide has been so far, &nbsp;elusive. Every time I turn on the news, it only gets worse. Watching the cartoon channel can only go so far. The news has become like</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp;" This day in crazy...". I only wish I could summon the ostrich like properties of the Republican leadership in Congress, and stick my head in the sand with them, but there doesn't appear to be enough sand In the sandbox to cover the multitude of craziness with which we have been besieged since Donald Trump ascended what he appears to think is a throne. So Donald Trump being the cause of all my recent maladies is as plausible a theory as the one Trump ascribes to that his predecessor had his "wires tapped" and is a bad, nasty guy.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;I was in a restaurant in Venice, &nbsp;Florida the other night listening to an Irish piano bar singer who was quite entertaining. It was a welcome respite, until he ended the evening by passing out small American flags for the crowd to waive as he sang&nbsp;Lee Greenwood's " Proud to be an American". The lead waitress grabbed my hand and made me lead a conga line to a George M. Cohan medley of "it's a grand old flag".&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Ordinarily, I am happy to engage in unabashed flag waving, but for some reason, I had very mixed feelings about this conga line and felt compelled to sit down after two rounds around the restaurant. I just don't feel like celebrating the current state of affairs, and the direction our new President has taken the country in. My flag is becoming unfurled, and that's not good.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; I don't want to cheer on anti immigrant round ups and Mexican wall building, and I refuse to praise Vladimir Putin. I also think the press has a legitimate right to hold this or any administration accountable, and that our first amendment rights are sacrosanct.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;So until sanity is somehow restored to our government, I am going to channel my inner Yankee Doodle Dandy in a different way. I am going to try to heal myself, and start by erecting a " Gardol" shield around my news consumption. Maybe I still can't flip the channel, but I can at least turn down the volume. Or even better, put on my headphones while I walk the treadmill &nbsp;at the gym and listen to&nbsp;The Bee Gees&nbsp;" Stayin' alive!" Right now that appeals to me a lot more than&nbsp;Lee Greenwood.</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-6265065736656230122017-03-07T05:44:00.002-08:002017-03-07T05:44:42.073-08:00Fast and loose with the Facts<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Insecurity, narcissism and ignorance is on parade almost daily at the White House. It is very scary, because when the President speaks, it has historically been vetted and fact checked, and that is not the case with Trump. He lies and exaggerates with reckless abandon, undermining the credibility of the Presidency, and the credibility of America in general.&nbsp;</span>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-15104864974603797092017-02-22T06:46:00.000-08:002017-02-22T06:47:00.508-08:00<span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">Follow the Russian money to Trump! He say has has no deals " in" Russia... translate that to I have deals with Russian oligarchs and their money which they have invested i my properties.&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">http://www.nationalmemo.com/money-trump-russia/?Tim_campaign=website&amp;utm_source=sd&amp;utm_medium=email</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-39197931442985711572017-02-22T02:39:00.003-08:002017-02-22T02:42:07.704-08:00<br style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px;" /><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">Here is an important article which explains why this scandal i not going away anytime soon:</span><br /><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/why-flynn-russia-affair-troubling-trump-559132"> http://www.newsweek.com/why-flynn-russia-affair-troubling-trump-559132</a><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">http://www.newsweek.com/why-flynn-russia-affair-troubling-trump-559132</span>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-55773578912132956732017-02-21T03:34:00.002-08:002017-02-21T03:43:26.826-08:00Resist American, Resist! <span style="color: #454545; font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">The politics of blame and shame.</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I am sure you may have noticed, but just in case you missed it, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, positive about Donald J. Trump's message. Even his signature slogan, "Make America great again! " is perjorative. It implies that something insidious was afoot over the last several years which somehow derailed the greatest nation on earth from its lofty perch, and he and only he can fix it. Nonsense. Unless he has a foil, he has nothing to say. Unless he is pitted against some adversary, real or imagined, the Donald is a rhetorically windless bag of bloviation and self adulation.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; He does not operate based upon any sound ideological footing, nor does he seek to implement a comprehensive well thought out agenda. He is totally reactionary and his end game is pointed in only one direction: winning, at whatever the cost. And that, for the American people is not a good thing. We have always labored under the assumption that our nation has a moral compass, and that we have ideals which we are striving to achieve. Trump has shred bare those ideals and left us with a philosophy of me first, self aggrandizement that seems to have no limit.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; Somehow we need to collectively abandon this detour he has put us on, and reassert our pride, our values, and the essential goodness of America, before he drives this country into a very deep ditch, or even worse, off a cliff from which we will have no parachute to insure a safe landing. We must be vocal and vigil, and anything but silent in the process of this resistance. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of our country. We must form a resistance and stick to it. Only then will this mighty shroud crumble. If we stay strong and fight for our beliefs, this too shall pass, sooner rather than later. America must stand up and confront this bully at every turn. It is the only way we can maintain our freedom and dignity. &nbsp;We are beyond " Give him a chance, he's new." He is not going to change, so we must. Resist, America, resist!&nbsp;</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-91413501603671870542017-02-20T08:32:00.002-08:002017-02-20T08:32:21.042-08:00Humorless<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Being able to effectively use self deprecating humor is the sine qua non of any successful President. Trump's problem, among others, is that he has none. He cannot poke fun at himself. Any slight, real or imagined is a serious threat to his virility. He has virtually no sense of humor. He doesn't drink, so he's not going to mellow out after a few beers, and he has no intellectual curiosity. He does not read books or briefing papers, which is why he winds up quoting Fox TV sound bytes as reality. This is not going to change. That's the bad news. The good news? I don't see any yet.&nbsp;</span>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-54243675752715060702017-02-20T07:11:00.001-08:002017-02-20T07:11:54.178-08:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Stupid is as stupid does. Just as Forrest Gump. As each day goes by, it is increasingly. Lear that our new President is limited and /or handicapped, emotionally, and intellectually. He does not read books. He reacts off the cuff to the last thing he sees in cable news programs ( e.g. Sweden) , and he brags as naseum about how special he is and how much he has done, often ignoring the facts and simply fabricating stuff out of whole cloth. This, to say the least. Is very unpresidential. Starting today, this blog will take on Trump and his braggiodocious comments, as well as his actions. We must all be vigilant, lest we lose our democracy.&nbsp;</span>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-67301115800663198082017-02-20T07:03:00.001-08:002017-02-20T07:03:20.831-08:00https://www.facebook.com/jtsullivanjr/posts/10155318503077784John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-36554162341419666782017-02-20T06:55:00.001-08:002017-02-20T06:55:41.557-08:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">ANNOUNCEMENT&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">New editorial policy--</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp;As most of my friends know, I am very vocal when it comes to my political views, and the recent installation in office of our 45th President has only heightened that reality. That being said, I don't want my Facebook postings to be a continuing screed against Trump. There are lots of other topics to pay attention to, &nbsp;and that are deserving of comment. His constant barrage of baloney deserves separate and distinct treatment. So, from now on, I will attempt to restrict my posts about anything Trump related to my political blog:&nbsp;WWW.pdq22.blogspot.com&nbsp;. I will post a link on FB to my blog. However, I will not post the comment on FB. The reader will have a choice to click or ignore.&nbsp;<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; I will need to change my blog to achieve this, so, instead of posting full blown essays, I will be posting shorter dissertations of a paragraph or two instead. This should provide more content to those who seek to follow political commentary. It will become a chattier , less formal opinion site, and hopefully engender comment from others.&nbsp;</div></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-4288390459404391532016-12-15T06:38:00.002-08:002016-12-15T06:38:16.507-08:00Breaking News v. Broken news<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Breaking News. Nary a day goes by without seeing that term flash across our tv screens, and &nbsp;pop up on our smart watches . Watches used to actually just tell time, and newspapers used to actually print the news. As one highly regarded news purveyor, the New York Times, so presciently put it in way back in 1896: We print " All the news that is fit to print". That quote from publisher Adolph Ochs is still emblazoned on the masthead of the nation's most respected news source. Today, the word "print" has taken on multitudinous forms, with most of us now getting our information from non- print sources and hand held mini computers. It is tough to figure out what information is reliable, and what is not. With the emergence of Cybernews, we have lost our reliable filters as to what is and is not fit to "print" .&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Back in those days of robber barons and major media moguls , Ochs was responding to his competitors tendency to publish salacious headlines and half truths twisted in a way to push forward a particular ideology or agenda. That was labeled "Yellow journalism" back then, when tabloid publications were owned by, among others, William Randolph Hearst. &nbsp;Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, another NY newspaper publisher, &nbsp;focused on crime and sensationalism, and their newspapers were sold on the street for a penny or two. Indeed, that's where the term '"my two cents" came from. These bold new tabloids garnered hundreds of thousands of new readers and recruited lucrative advertising revenue from department stores to enhance their profitability. Presenting the facts as news became secondary to advancing agendas. Our involvement in Cuba at the time, the Spanish American war and the assassination of President McKinley in 1896 were directly attributable to these yellow journalism "rags". Fast forward 110 years, and we see the same scenario playing out, only this time, in the context of "fake news" , and social media, &nbsp;such as Facebook and Twitter. We now have a toxic mix of misinformation and disinformation available, which can adversely affect the outcome of elections.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;Guess what? That toxic mix of news, non-news, and fake news worked. And to add insult to injury, this time a foreign government, to wit: Russia , played a significant role in the disinformation campaign. We had cyber-hacking of e mails from foreign spying agencies , and selective leaks of those e mails intended to influence the election . &nbsp;Everything old ala 1896 became new again, and news networks like Fox News have taken the place of the Pulitzers and the Hearsts, and the casualty of these efforts has been the American electoral system.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; When you can't separate fact from fiction, and when facts don't matter as much as the belief systems of the media presenting those alleged facts, &nbsp;you have a recipe for disaster . Not only have we been hacked, we have been had.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In order to function properly, a democracy must have an informed electorate. Without that , it doesn't work. It becomes mob rule. Just ask Thomas Jefferson who famously said, " A people who believe they can be both free and ignorant, believe that which never has been and never can be". Without the ability of an informed electorate to make intelligent and critical choices in the voting booth, we are destined to &nbsp;become the pawns of those who would dupe us. Yes, it has come to pass. Demagoguery has triumphed in the person of our President-elect, and how and if our system will actually survive is a question that hangs precariously in the balance. Only vigilance and paying persistent attention to the machinations of our newly chosen leader can save us from perfidy.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Hopefully, in the end, the truth will prevail, but at the moment , determining what is true and what is not is an increasingly elusive goal. The Fourth estate has an incredibly important role to play in the next four years. If breaking news becomes broken news, then woe be we.<br /><div><br /></div></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-87093106028693405542016-11-27T14:44:00.002-08:002016-11-27T14:44:47.032-08:00Rubes united vote<br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Rubes unite!&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">For the last thirty years or so, since the Reagan revolution, we have had some form or another of trickle down economics in play in our country. Here's how it works: tax the rich less so that in theory they will use the money they keep to create more jobs and new wealth. The problem is, it doesn't work. It never has, and it has created the greatest divide between the haves and have nots that this country has ever seen. It has crushed the middle class and robbed people in lower socio economic situations of their ability to better themselves. It has. virtually if not literally , killed the American Dream. The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp;So, &nbsp;in response, what do we do about it? Blame the black guy who inherited the mess for not fixing it fast enough, and vote Republican. As a result of the despair so many are feeling, we elected an authoritarian narcissist as President because he claimed "I alone can fix it!" &nbsp;Make sense? Hardly.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; For 55 years of my life, I lived in a place where people who live in trailer parks tend to vote Republican. I say that not in a disparaging way, but simply to describe folks who are unfortunately stuck &nbsp;in that &nbsp;lower socioeconomic strata. Time and again, these denizens of the mobile home on cinderblocks world have been their own worst enemies at the ballot box. They vote against their own economic interests. Why the conundrum?&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; With few exceptions, upstate NY trailer park people don't trust the party of Thomas Jefferson. How can that be? The answer is quite simple, actually. They don't trust their downstate big city brethren to do what's right for them, and with good reason. The Democratic Party in New York, which is controlled by the Manhattan type elite, &nbsp;has never really listened to them, and has &nbsp;paid only lip service to these "upstate rubes". The rubes resent it, just as people in the fly over sections of our country resent the attitude of the east and west coastal communities . And how do I know that? Because I am one of those "Upstate rubes". I was recruited in 1995 to create the illusion that the NY City politicians were actually listening to the rubes, who had just thrown Mario Cuomo out of office. He got only 17% of the vote &nbsp;in Oswego County, and that needed to be changed. So, &nbsp;as a former Upstate Mayor, with an ebullient Irish demeanor , I became the Co- Chair of the state Democratic Party. My job was to bring back the Reagan Democrats. There was a need for the illusion that the party was listening to the rubes. In reality, that was far from the truth. But we did go on to create the Democratic Rural Conference , and that helped galvanize the rube vote for a while. Our motto was "United for voice and victory." We energized the people with the pitchforks. The Democrats started winning again. It didn't last for long. And even Howard Dean picked up the idea and ran with it as DNC Chair with what he called his 50 state strategy. That worked too, and the Democrats for a while, made a comeback.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; To digress, in addition , and to buttress my rube bona fides, I lived for three of the last six years in SE Kansas, which counts as middle American fly over country. I used to tell my college aged students that I may be from NY, but not the NY they were thinking about. I was from &nbsp;the Southeast Kansas part of New York. I think they got it.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;It is the arrogance of the elite ruling class that brings out the rube vote in droves. This election provides ample evidence of that phenomenon. The rubes prevailed. They voted for change over substance because they are frustrated and forlorn and never really listened to. They believed that a tear down the house ersatz billionaire would deliver them to the promised land. They didn't like it when Hillary Clinton called them a basket of deplorable, and more than they liked Mayor Ed Koch's comment , when he ran for NY Governor in 1982 about pick up trucks with gun racks and gingham dresses.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; So this year, Trump won. &nbsp;And &nbsp;now we will wait in great anticipation to see what if anything can be done to advance the cause of american rubery. &nbsp;We will see if If true change is possible, &nbsp;and whether economic justice is more than just an illusory apparition. Turnabout is fair play. The elites are now marching in protest and the rubes are rooting for the Republicans to bring about that deliverance. Ying meet yang. Yes, we shall see what happens. &nbsp;But I wouldn't get my hopes up too high.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; Nevertheless, in the interim , we should stay open to the possibility of success, while still planning &nbsp;for the worst. And what's the worst that can happen? &nbsp;A return to despair. Perhaps one day we will all &nbsp;be singing "Happy days are here again! &nbsp;", or perhaps not. &nbsp;Only time will tell.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; But as we take a collective deep breath before retreating to our sparring stations in opposite corners of the ring, let's understand that an &nbsp;early knockout is unlikely. We are in for a multi-round battle. The rubes of this country must re-energize and unite. Once that happens , the fight will be &nbsp;on, an then real change may actually come about. Meanwhile, the words of Mr. Jefferson come back to haunt us. " A people who believe they can be both free and ignorant, believe that which has never been, and never can be. " A democracy presupposes an informed electorate. Without that, it just doesn't work. &nbsp;Believe me!&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-29336076591033463272016-11-16T02:42:00.001-08:002016-11-16T02:42:30.161-08:00This is not encouraging. Some would say the "s--t show" has begun. The most disturbing part of this news about discord in the Trump transition team is that Trump himself is back on Twitter, complimenting himself and saying only he is in charge and only he knows who will get what jobs. This is alarmingly incompetent, and plays into the narrative that he is manifestly unqualified for the job. Perhaps our only real hope lies with nine members of the Electoral College who, if they became faithless electors, could throw the election into the House of Representatives, from which could emerge, in theory, a sane person to assume the presidency. I have been trying to give Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt, but with the ascendancy and appointment of extremist ideologues like Mr. Bannon as a top advisor, and the internal purges orchestrated by Trump's son in law, this crowd is emerging as the not ready for prime time players, and that is an understatement. Our. Country's cohesive approach to governance, both foreign and domestic, is greatly imperiled. Woe be we.<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html?mwrsm=Facebook">http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html?mwrsm=Facebook</a>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-43698920692413378362016-11-11T06:16:00.003-08:002016-11-11T07:23:42.630-08:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: &quot;uictfonttextstylebody&quot;; font-size: 19px;">Time for me to eat some crow. I was wrong. Bernie Sanders, &nbsp;had he been the nominee, would have won the election. I failed to see that because of my long time loyalty to the Democratic Party and its established leadership. That was a big mistake on my part. I didn't "Feel the Bern" enough. I felt it, but just not deeply.&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">I didn't think a Vermont socialist with a Brooklyn accent would play well in the heartland. I was wrong about that too.&nbsp;</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;In my heart of hearts, I questioned the wisdom of the Hillary Clinton candidacy. I even wrote an essay called "Time to pass the baton" in which I called for Hillary to step aside in favor of Bernie and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. I never published the column. I deep sixed it in deference to Hillary. I was wrong , and the Bernie-ites were right.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;When I was Co- Chair of the NYS Democratic Party we started the Democratic Rural Conference. It was an attempt to get the elite leadership of the Manhattan oriented Democratic Party to pay attention to the concerns of NY's heartland type voters in the more rural and less urban parts of the state. That strategy worked. Hillary Clinton used the DRC to help build a winning coalition in her Senate campaign, and she won. Howard Dean adopted the concept in what he dubbed the "50 state strategy", and the Democratic Party started winning again. Somewhere along the way, that concept of paying attention to our real grassroots got lost in the shuffle. That was a mistake as well. We need to get back to our roots. We need to listen. We didn't hear the pain.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; Michael Moore, the filmmaker, &nbsp;did hear it. He got it and his message delivered very plainly and bluntly on the Morning Joe program recently is one that the Democratic Party needs to heed, big time. In essence, he argued that we need to pay attention to Flint, Michigan and Forks in the road type people. They are hurting and the Democratic Party elites are paying them lip service. That is why we lost. I agree. Mea Culpa. Mea Culpa. Mea maxima Culpa.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The road to tomorrow starts today. I agree with Bernie Sanders and Sen. Chuck Schumer that we need new leadership in the Democratic Party. Howard Dean might make good sense, but that could be looking in the rear view mirror. Rep. Keith Ellison , a Michigan Congressman, &nbsp;who happens to be Muslim, might just be the answer. We need to have an open discussion and settle on bold new leadership . Sooner rather than later.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-18643001693553815812016-11-03T03:51:00.001-07:002016-11-03T03:51:26.612-07:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jLNCYsG1Vs/VroIXlgvY3I/AAAAAAAACFI/gzxFm45QqD4Hvs609p5FlTlLIQPmJ2oDQCPcB/s1600/Hillary%2B%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jLNCYsG1Vs/VroIXlgvY3I/AAAAAAAACFI/gzxFm45QqD4Hvs609p5FlTlLIQPmJ2oDQCPcB/s1600/Hillary%2B%2Bphoto.jpg" /></a><span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town. And now after 108 years their north side home team has beaten back the curses bedeviling them, and toddled their way to become the World champions of baseball. It wasn't easy. It was a classic come from behind win, and even when victory appeared at hand, it took an extra inning forced by a late Cleveland comeback, and a nerve wracking rain delay, to seal the deal.&nbsp;</span></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The parallels between this year's World Series and the Presidential contest are unmistakeable. Don't get me wrong. I am not comparing the Cleveland Indians to Donald Trump. They are much better than that , but Hillary &nbsp;is from Chicago, and her toddlin' campaign of advances and setbacks is the political equivalent of the Cubs experience.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The last time the Cubs won the series, women couldn't even vote, and now, at last, we may elect a grandmother as President after a 240 year drought. For my money, let's hope her competitor' s late close, and the rain delay are harbingers of hope that truth, justice, and the American way will ultimately prevail to save the day. Yes Virginia, there is a Mighty Mouse ( or in this case Minnie). But No matter who you might be cheering on, it is a relief to know that we are at least in the ninth inning of this contest which will soon be over.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Let's hope and pray that no extra innings are required to drag this process out any further. . And let's always remember that winning is winning, and losing is losing. There is no in between. Someone will be the champion, and someone will live to fight For another day. It's the American way. and while I am sure there is no joy in the Mudville of Cleveland today, they accept the results. The contest was exciting, and challenging, and far from being rigged. So be it. All hail the champs!&nbsp;</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-75775938915960768882016-10-19T15:15:00.001-07:002016-10-19T15:15:48.340-07:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">My suggestion for Hillary tonight:</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">At the right time, look Trump in the eye, pause, then say " You know Donald, you have been very personal and vitriolic throughout this campaign , calling me Crooked, and crippled, and not fit to serve. You have been very personal, and so , at this last debate, I for once am going to be personal in return,. I will only say this once.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; I saw your wife on tv trying to defend you, what you said, and what it is alleged you did to at least nine women. I felt her pain. She believes you, and I believed my husband too. She claims that your accusers are making it up. That's a natural reaction from a loving spouse. I know. I have been there. If and when the reality hits that what you are defending your husband against was actually true, at least in part, she will suffer even deeper embarrassment and hurt. For her sake and yours, I hope that does not come to pass. But when all is said and done, hurt as I was, i made a choice. I decided to stay with my husband and to work it out. You left two of your wives, and married for the third time. I am still married to the same man, and I still love, and respect him, and thank him for working through the pain with me.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 19px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; But, in the final analysis, my husband is not on the ballot, I am, and I would very much appreciate it if you would let go of the &nbsp;politics of personal vilification these last theee weeks, and talk about the issues and what you plan to do for the American people. That's what I intend to do going forward, and I &nbsp;hope you will join me . And whoever wins, let's try to be civil, and. congratulate the winner, &nbsp;and try to unite this country in the four years to come. Will you join me in that pledge, Donald?</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-35355107106642653272016-09-21T18:39:00.001-07:002016-09-21T18:39:49.221-07:00<span style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">Other people's money</span><br /><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;"><br /></div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">The Republican candidate for President has a history of saying outrageous things, destined to keep himself in the headlines. And indeed he has said some pretty outlandish things, none of which seem to bother his devoted and loyal minions .&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">But recently, he said something which should give even his most devoted acolytes pause. He has bragged about his penchant and his ability to use other people's money in the furtherance of his business objectives. Minimizing his own risk and using OPM ( Other people's money ) is his stock in trade, so he brags, as if that ability to lure the unwary investor is a virtue, in that he profits from using their money.</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; Let's pause here to remember that Donald Trump is not running for President of the stock exchange. He is running for President of the entire country, and as such would be the Commander in chief of using OPM , other's people's money, to wit , our tax dollars , to achieve the common objectives of the country.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I hasten to add that he has also bragged that he pays as little in taxes as he can. I guess that makes sense if you are Donald Trump, because then it is other people's money that is being used to buy jet fighters and aircraft carriers and to pay for the health costs of the elderly and the poor.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; I am reminded of one of Hugh Carey's favorite lines when he was running for Governor against Nelson Rockefeller's handpicked successor, Malcolm Wilson " Rocky spent our money like it was &nbsp;his money!" Spending other people's money is what politicians do best. Giving a man like Donald Trump command of the Executive budget of the United States of America to spend OPM is a scary prospect indeed. He professes to be a conservative , but when it comes to spending other people's money, Katy bar the door! Would he do things like buy $10,000 self portraits , and pay off people who won hole in one contests. Who knows?&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">&nbsp; &nbsp; That's why it is really critical to get a look at his tax returns, to see where his money comes from, and what it goes to, and how much of his money goes to the commonweal to run the government , if any.&nbsp;</div><div style="color: #454545; font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 23px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">If how you spend money depends on whether or not it is your own money or someone else's , let the buyer beware. Big time!&nbsp;</div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-11974997192437238242016-09-09T06:54:00.002-07:002016-09-09T06:54:48.390-07:00<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><b>Hillary’s Hard A</b></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">Try as she may, Hillary Clinton is still not connecting at the gut level with much of the American electorate. I have struggled to analyze why, and think I have the answer. Try as I may, repeatedly, I have been unable to get anyone in the Clinton camp to pay attention to this suggestion. So, time to go public with my thesis in a kind of Hail Mary pass. Here goes:</span><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">In the last few days of the Presidential campaign, we have heard much about “softening”, and “hardening” of positions.&nbsp; I can’t figure out if the Republican candidate is really softening his position on immigration or not.&nbsp; One minute he sounds softer, then the next he is hard at it again.&nbsp; Kellyanne Conway, his new campaign manager, has obviously brought out a softer side of Donald Trump, as long as he reads words from a teleprompter.&nbsp; The problem resurfaces when he goes off script, and his normal tendency is to go from soft to hard edged rhetoric.&nbsp; That’s just how he rolls.&nbsp; His opponent, Hillary Clinton, however, has her own soft vs. hard thing going.&nbsp; After watching many of her speeches, I finally figured out why so many people find it difficult to believe what she says.&nbsp; It is all about the way she says it.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Hillary uses the hard pronunciation of the indefinite article “a”.&nbsp; Hillary almost always pronounces “a” as “eh”(which rhymes with hay), not “uh” (which rhymes with duh).&nbsp; According to most grammar experts, the hard “A” is properly used when denoting something unique, or singular, or formal, like a book title, as in “A” bridge too far" as opposed to “uh” bridge too far.&nbsp; Over use of the hard “A” results in the speaker being perceived as formalistic and defensive, which is how Hillary comes across.</span><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; I would be interested in seeing the reaction of white men over 50 who read what she says, as opposed to listening to it.&nbsp; I think you might get an altogether different reaction.&nbsp; It is often not the content of her speech, but the quality of it that annoys many. How we say things does matter, and with her overuse of the hard “A”, Hillary comes off as someone who is simply not genuine. Translate that to not believable. It is as simple as that.&nbsp; I find it hard to understand with all the political pros she has on her side, why no one seems to have told her what she needs to do to fix it.&nbsp; Message to Hillary Clinton:&nbsp; drop the hard “A”.&nbsp; “What A great campaign we had” should become what a (Uh) great campaign. A hard “A’ is often too formalistic. It is as simple as that. I am not a linguistics expert, but I am a student of political speechmaking , and have been for over 40 years, and I can spot a problem when I see one. Hillary has A problem.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; Every time she is asked why people just don’t believe her, she struggles to answer the question.&nbsp; Well, there’s the answer.&nbsp; Soften the use of the “a’ and see how her poll ratings would soar.&nbsp; When you are running for President, or any office for that matter, how you say things, tone, accent, inflection, is often as important was what you say. Hillary has&nbsp; “A” problem.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; Accents, colloquialisms , and regional nuances of speech have historically played a very important part in shaping a politician's success. Take JFK for example. His "pahk your cah in the yahd " accent seemed to elevate his electability , and ability to endear himself to the American people. Somehow. and for some unknown reason, Boston accents are often just, adorable in ways that Chicago hard A’s and upstate NY flat A’s are not. If you don't believe me, consider the success of the guys on NPR’s “Car talk” ( The "tap fort" brothers ). People just love the way they sound, and how they laugh, in addition to the comedic things they say.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;People do not much like the way Hillary sounds at times, because of her overuse of the hard “A”.&nbsp; She just seems disingenuous. It is this school marmish way of condescendingly talking to her errant pupils that tends to upend her. She adopts the affect of a hall monitor,&nbsp; which is very off putting. She needs to change the way she speaks, and pronto. She has already taken some steps to stop the shouting from the podium, and sound more conversational.&nbsp; This is the next big step she needs to take.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Bernie Sander's Brooklyn accent, which turned out to be unendearing to some heartland voters, actually worked in his favor with many, by building his believability quotient. When he says " Enough already!", people get it. They hear and they get him in a deep seated kind of way. He is , above all else, believable. If what you say doesn't ring true, or doesn't sound true, it will not be perceived as true. You have to own what you say for people to believe in you, and Hillary just doesn't sound like she owns what she says, much of the time.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background: white;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;When Hillary ran for the senate in NY, she became a great student of everything Upstate, and she won. She can fix this problem too. But first, she, and her staff have to recognize the nature of the problem, before they can turn it around. Hello Houston. Hello Brooklyn. Hello Hillary. We've got a problem. Let's fix it.&nbsp; Say goodbye to the hard “A”.&nbsp; Softer, at least in this case,&nbsp; is way better.</span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> <o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <!--StartFragment--> <!--EndFragment--><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jLNCYsG1Vs/VroIXlgvY3I/AAAAAAAACFI/gzxFm45QqD4Hvs609p5FlTlLIQPmJ2oDQCPcB/s1600/Hillary%2B%2Bphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9jLNCYsG1Vs/VroIXlgvY3I/AAAAAAAACFI/gzxFm45QqD4Hvs609p5FlTlLIQPmJ2oDQCPcB/s1600/Hillary%2B%2Bphoto.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-45458801712556158222016-07-06T16:26:00.001-07:002016-07-06T16:26:46.681-07:00A speech I wrote for Hillary ( unsolicited) that will probably never be given. Here is the speech Hillary should give, but probably never will:<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;My fellow Americans: I have been in public life for over 40 years . It has been at times exhilarating, often exhausting, rewarding but trying, and sometimes very bumpy . Over the course of time, I have found a few truths to be self evident. First: our politicians and elected officials do not always speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. &nbsp;More often than not, they speak in forked tongues and use language intended to mollify, mystify or make murkier the muddy waters in which they muddle.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; I confess that I have at times joined the chorus as well to tell people what I thought they wanted to hear, not necessarily the unvarnished truth. Yes, I have been guilty of gilding the lily by not always being blunt and forthright as are some politicians today. I am guilty of having &nbsp;been even &nbsp;diplomatic at times, when diplomacy was called for. Blunt talk does not always solve problems. It can create more problems than it resolves by ratcheting up the level of conflict rather than seeking solutions to those matters on which we disagree. Diplomacy imore times than not , is a strength rather than a weakness.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; Hindsight is , as they say, 20/20, and I &nbsp;confess to not always &nbsp;having made the best choices in being forthright about some matters, particularly when those matters were very personal in nature. That is only human. We humans make mistakes. In my caution to protect my and my family's privacy I have gone to extremes which , looking in the rear view mirror I should not have engaged in. I have been pelted by tomatoes through the years, some of them fresh and many more of them rotten. I hope the American people can understand why I made the mistakes I did in trying to protect and secure my private information.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; In my explanation justifying my actions, I previously stated that none of the e mails sent by me were marked classified at the time. The FBI director now says that of 30,000 e mails they reviewed, 113 were classified and a "few" we're marked as such. I take him at his word. I can only surmise that either I did not catch it at the time of sending or that the topics were more mundane than the labeling indicated. Nevertheless, out of 30.000 if there were a few that I miscategorized I apologize for the error and take full responsibility for my actions.<br />&nbsp; I believe the record shows that I never intended to in any way jeapordize sensitive information, and no evidence has been adduced that proves anything to the contrary. I hasten to add that I &nbsp;am not the only high level official to have used a private server for e mail communication, and the level of scrutiny for the actions of others who have done so has been materially less intense. That I no way excuses my lapse.<br />&nbsp; &nbsp; I realize that anything I say or do is subject to scrutiny because of who I am and the office I am running for. That goes with the territory.<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp;But make no mistake about one thing. I made a mistake, several in fact, and in my &nbsp;response to questions concerning this matter I should have been more forthcoming at the outset. That was a mistake too.<br />&nbsp; I merely ask the voters to consider the facts in this matter in light of the totality of my career of service, successes and failures, and to judge my actions and fitness for high office accordingly . &nbsp;It is my hope that we can now move on to discussing the important issues facing the American voters in this election year, and let each of you be the judge as to who is more suited to fulfill the responsibilities of the high office I seek. I can offer you my knowledge, insight, experience, temperament and judgment. It is for the voters to judge and compare my qualifications with those of my opponent. In the ensuing months of this campaign, I hope to earn your support and &nbsp;your vote. The future course of our country hangs in the balance.John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21690387249132637.post-60357101617415947462016-05-25T06:12:00.001-07:002016-05-25T06:12:07.388-07:00Today's Washington Post has a story about Donald Trump being a tax cheat and comparing him to Leona Helmsley.<br /><br />&nbsp;“When you can write off your income and write off your consumption, you’re in a Leona Helmsley situation.” The late Helmsley, who also had a real estate fortune, is remembered for observing that “only the little people pay taxes.”<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;So instead of releasing his tax returns Trump dives deeper into the dumpster on the Clintons.<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp; He is clearly a fraudster, a huckster , a narcissistic self enriching grandizer, and now add tax cheat, yet he seems to go up in the polls. As George McGovern said in 1972, "Come home America!"<br /><br />&nbsp; &nbsp;And to that I would hasten " Come to your senses America, and walk past the tabloids in the check out counter. " We can do better.John Sullivanhttps://plus.google.com/104278887804227255176noreply@blogger.com0